What is prevention?

Cancer prevention is action taken to lower the chance of getting cancer. By
preventing cancer, the number of new cases of cancer in a group or population is
lowered. Hopefully, this will lower the number of deaths caused by cancer.

To prevent new cancers from starting, scientists look at risk factors and
protective factors. Anything that increases your chance of developing cancer is
called a cancer risk factor; anything that decreases your chance of developing
cancer is called a cancer protective factor.

Some risk factors for cancer can be avoided, but many cannot. For example,
both smoking and inheriting certain genes are risk factors for some types of
cancer, but only smoking can be avoided. Regular exercise and a healthy diet may
be protective factors for some types of cancer. Avoiding risk factors and
increasing protective factors may lower your risk but it does not mean that you
will not get cancer.

Different ways to prevent cancer are being studied, including:

Changing lifestyle or eating habits.

Avoiding things known to cause cancer.

Taking medicines to treat a precancerous condition or to keep cancer
from starting.

Endometrial cancer is a disease in which malignant (cancer) cells form in
the tissues of the endometrium.

The endometrium is the lining of the uterus. The uterus is part of the female
reproductive system. It is a hollow, pear-shaped, muscular organ in the pelvis,
where a fetus grows.

Endometrial cancer is the most common invasive cancer of the female
reproductive system.

Endometrial cancer usually occurs in women after menopause, and affects more
white women than black women. Black women diagnosed with endometrial cancer are
more likely to have more advanced disease at diagnosis, and are more likely to
die from endometrial cancer than white women.